Daily Archives: August 31, 2012

August 31, 2012Comments Off on Only prudent course was delay sand mining vote

The two companies that had Baker County in a turmoil in recent months seeking to bring their sand mining operations to sites south and east of Macclenny did last week what they had to do.

Both withdrew petitions for zoning exceptions pending environmental review by two state agencies — St. Johns Water Management District and the Department of Environmental Protection.

Opponents were loaded for bear before the hearings cancelled at the last minute the evening of August 21 — a petition with 2000 names and warm bodies to fill the large second-story courtroom at the county courthouse.

Alas, it was all for naught, at least for the present.

The controversy isn’t about sand mining, after all. It’s about water supply, and one could argue convincingly that the environmental impact portion of this should have preceded the zoning exception request.

But it didn’t, and we need to deal with what is.

As mentioned before, the plans of Old Castle Southern Group of Tampa and E.R. Jahna of Lake Wales broke into the public consciousness at an inopportune time — right on the heels of the medical waste incinerator request (also at Trailridge and environs) that turned into a fiasco.

The public perception with all three projects — rightly or wrongly — was that they screamed out “environmental hazard!” foisted on the public after groundwork was laid in secret.

That’s not exactly accurate, but it didn’t matter — perception is everything.

Curtis Albert Williams, 83, of Macclenny died on May 25, 2012. Mr. Williams was born March 2, 1929 in Macclenny, the third of 11 children born at home to the late Arthur and Edna Marie Williams. He is survived by children Janice Edmond, Audrey Jackson, Renee Williams, Curtis Williams and Kurtina Marvins; 11 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren numerous nephews, nieces and cousins.

He was married to Cloretta Williams until 1998 and the late Jimmye Owens Williams from 1999 until her death in 2011. He was preceded in death by siblings Walter, Rudolph , Clarence, Dollie Mae and Winston Williams.

Richard Lee McCaul Jr., 51, of Starke, died Thursday, May 24, 2012. He was a Baker County High School graduate and a heavy equipment operator. He enjoyed hunting and fishing and spending time with family and friends.

Mr. McCaul is survived by his father Richard L. (Rosemary) McCaul Sr. of Six Mile, SC; mother Elois (Bill) Crews of Macclenny; son Richard Lee McCaul III of Macclenny; daughter Natasha S. McCaul of Jacksonville; brothers Shawn (Tammy) Baldwyn and Shane (Lori) Baldwyn of Glen St. Mary; sister Wanda (Russell) Blair of Lake City; three grandchildren, numerous nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his daughter Shelby McCaul.

That’s the word an official of Florida’s Department of Education used to characterize what the state’s Board of Education did last week when FCAT writing exam scores for 4th, 8th and 10 graders were released and did a free-fall. Only about a third got the minimum passing grade.

I think what he meant was the board “dumbed down” the score so the results weren’t as dismal. That’s certainly what most of the nation believed when the “re-calibration” was announced.

Never underestimate academia’s penchant for snatching words like “re-calibrate” to describe what happened. Obfuscation of the language is what they do best.

Baker County students, incidentally, were right there with counterparts in Florida’s remaining 66 counties. The “passing” percentage here went up when the numbers were “re-calibrated.”

So now, what they’re telling us is the reading portion of FCAT was made more difficult, but made so too swiftly. What tripped up students was the new emphasis on punctuation, spelling and grammar.